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Welcome to Down Home, San Luis Obispo Classical Academy's blog! We are a classical school offering options to make education work for families. We have a full hybrid program for grades K-8, which means two days at school with three days of home education, all days following the classical model and curricula carefully laid out by the school. We also have a four day program available for grades 6-8. Our high school students attend school three days each week. This blog is meant to support and encourage on the home front because in so many ways, the heart of what happens at SLO Classical Academy happens down home. Semper discentes - always learning together.

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Reading Aloud to Kids Who Can Read

June 6th, 2017

“Children become readers on the laps of their parents.”

~ Emilie Buchwald

We know that the above quote is true, but why do we want to keep reading to kids once they become readers? And especially with summer coming, don’t we just give them each a stack of books and then take a break from reading aloud?

If you’ve ever heard Andrew Pudewa, the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW), speak about this, you’ll know the answer. We often talk about this at SLOCA as well, but it’s always nice to be reminded of why we choose to spend time in this way with our children.

Here’s an excellent podcast from Read-Aloud Revival (a wonderful resource for read alouds) which happens to be a conversation about this very topic:

And closely related, here is Mr. Pudewa’s talk about how reading aloud to kids improves their writing skills. He gave this talk when he came to SLOCA a few years ago, or you may have heard this before elsewhere, but it’s always worth listening to again:

So let’s not take the summer off of reading aloud! Choose one or two quality books to enjoy together as a family this summer. In fact, why not try SLOCA’s recommended summer read: Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander. This lively story is about a talking, time-traveling cat and his owner. Here's part of the description on Amazon:

“From ancient Egypt to Japan, from the land of young Leonardo da Vinci to the town of a woman accused of witchcraft, Jason and Gareth are whisked from place to place and friend to foe. This fantastic tale grabs the imagination and takes it far and wide, on the adventure of not one, but nine, amazing lifetimes.”

Pick up a copy in the school store!

Stay tuned for more about reading aloud, coming later this week…

SLO Classical Academy is not affiliated with any of the above mentioned websites, businesses, organizations, or individuals.